Samba funk is a musical subgenre that fuses Brazilian

samba Samba () is a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Brazilian music genres that originated in the Afro-Brazilians, Afro Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, It is a name or ...

and American

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

, created in the late 1960s by pianist Dom Salvador and the Brazilian band Grupo Abolição (which later gave rise to Banda Black Rio) and based on a blend of the binary measures of samba and the quaternary measures of funk, which had recently arrived on the Brazilian music market. Brazilian singers and bands such as Tim Maia, Jorge Ben and Banda Black Rio have also pioneered into the genre.

Characteristics

Samba funk is a hybrid musical subgenre that combines elements of Brazilian

with American

, its rhythm mostly composed by keyboards,

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, creating a hybrid and contagious sound. The bass, drums and guitar lines transition between the two styles. Samba funk uses instrumentation, timbres, and effects common in 1970s American funk bands, such as the Rhodes electric piano, clavinet, and Moog and Oberheim

analog synthesizers An analog synthesizer () is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Trautonium, were built with a variety of vacuum-tub ...

. Musical effects such as the wah-wah on the guitar also contribute to the genre's sound.

History

From the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état, the country lived under a repressive

military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...

, which was accompanied by a strong countercultural reaction. Dom Salvador was an instrumentalist, arranger and composer who took part in the musical effervescence of Rio de Janeiro after the emergence of bossa nova, and combined Brazilian

with American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, participating in the creation of samba jazz. In 1969, Dom Salvador's producer at CBS returned from a trip to the USA with a number of

and

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

records, including Kool & the Gang,

Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band formed in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1966 and active until 1983. Their work, which blended elements of funk, soul music, soul, psychedelic rock, gospel music, gospel, and R&B, becam ...

and

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

. He suggested that Salvador do something similar, but Salvador refused to simply copy. He created a major departure from jazz, interpreting funk through the prism of samba with his band Grupo Abolição, with whom they also played samba funk and samba soul. Grupo Abolição's work in blending samba and funk influenced the formation of Banda Black Rio in 1976, which was named after the 1970s counterculture Black Rio.

Ballroom dance

Based on this genre, a

ballroom dance Ballroom dance is a set of European partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and te ...

rhythm emerged thanks to dance teacher Jimmy de Oliveira called ''samba-funkeado'', a style that mixes samba de gafieira with charme (which has their origins in

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

), distinguished by the funkeado body movement; a broken dance, influenced by hip-hop and soul, which works on breaks in dance and body movements, as well as on temporal pauses in the music, which at many points resemble photographs.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * {{Lusophonemusic Samba music genres Fusion music genres Funk genres 1960s in Latin music Brazilian styles of music Ballroom dance